Field of the Invention
This invention relates to marine systems and, more particularly, to novel systems and methods for buoys and moorings to minimize corrosion, chafing, and their combined damage to marine equipment.
Background Art
Water, whether the salty substance common to the oceans of the world, and their associated tidal rivers and ponds, or fresh water, has a corrosive effect on metals. Moreover, metal apparatus, such as chains, clevis links, cables, thimbles (hondos), loops, rebar, anchors, brackets, and the like have often been used in linkages in tethers between a vessel, such as a ship, boat, barge, or the like and an anchor under water. Likewise, pipelines, buoys for both marking of shorelines, segregated regions, mooring locations, navigation messages, or the like must be moored on the bottom of lakes, rivers, oceans, bays, and so forth.
It is well established that water environments attack metals by several mechanisms including plant life that grows thereon, animal life that attaches thereto, oxidation (chemical corrosion, crevice corrosion, rust, etc.), and the like. Anodic protection, such as zinc plating lasts for a time, and eventually expires. Cathodic coatings such as paint, rubber dipping, and so forth are subject to damage, pin hole penetrations, and the like which, may ravage underlying metallic components once the cathodic coating is breached.
Meanwhile, wind moves water. Therefore, waves move floating objects. Tides and stream flows move items that are under water. Thus, with the passage of time, motion moves submerged metal components about, causing corrosion to increase by chafing off outer layers, thereby exposing lower layers of the base metal and increasing the speed of corrosion.
Steel and iron have been used for millennia. Owners spend substantial resources including time, money, materials, and so forth protecting, servicing, inspecting, and replacing metal components. The effort imposed by bodies of water on owners of metal submerged therein is enormous.
It would be an advance in the art to provide an improved mooring system for mooring vessels (ships, boats, barges, any other watercraft) and underwater structures such as pipelines, piers, other structures, and so forth in a manner to minimize maintenance, repair efforts, and other resources (such as time) for anchoring and keeping such systems. It would be an advance in the art to provide securement systems that are resistant to corrosion, chafing, and so forth.
It would be a further advance in the art to protect intermediate floats, such as mid-line floats, against the tangling that seems to be so pervasive and inherent in tethers or lines that secure moored objects to their anchors on a floor of a water body.
It would be a further advance in the art to provide a buoy mounting system that is serviceable, maintains proper service orientation of a buoy, and resists the effects of corrosion, chafing, and the like. It would be a further advance in the art to provide an improved buoy that can be installed to interface with a system of anchors, lines, mid-line floats, fastening systems, orientation maintenance systems, and the like, thus rendering a buoy easily installed, easily serviced, easily accessed, and easily operated as a mooring device.